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The ever-growing problem of food adulteration & counterfeiting

Food adulteration and tampering is a big challenge for both manufacturers and consumers. Food adulteration leads to a poor brand image of the manufacturers, decrease their profits and jeopardizes the health and life of the consumers. A few months ago, there was a massive outcry among the consumers and especially on media when video footage showed a Zomato delivery boy eating from a food delivery packaging.

Zomato which is a popular online Indian restaurant search and discovery service had to suffer from a tarnished brand image and incorporated anti-tampering seal in its delivery boxes. But, why it took so much time for a leading food delivery platform to adopt an anti-tampering solution for its products? However, Zomato is not the only name but many prominent brands have done very little to combat the problem of adulteration and duplication. On the contrary, there has been a massive increase in the menace of food adulteration and counterfeiting.

Take for example milk and milk products which are bearing the brunt of adulteration for the last many years. As per an FSSAI official, “The state of adulteration in milk and milk products in the country is such that 68.7 per cent of milk and milk products sold is not as per the standards laid down by the FSSAI.”

Amidst this grim scenario, food adulteration and counterfeiting need to be checked on different fronts which are as follows:

Stringent regulatory measures: Food authorities must ensure strict monitoring of warehouses, production facilities and supply chains to find and plug any loopholes that may lead to adulteration.

Creating consumer awareness: Consumers must be regularly alerted and made aware of food adulteration practices and ways to identify adulterated food products through different campaigns.

Use of anti-tampering and anti-counterfeiting technologies: Last, but not least use of different anti-tampering technologies can effectively secure food products from adulteration.

Holostik is a pioneer in anti-counterfeiting solutions has been providing different kinds of products to the food manufacturing and processing industry. The company provides anti-tampering security labels, holograms, security pouches, shrink sleeves, wide web films along with other digital authentication solutions to secure the products and the supply chain.